Industrial Court Restrains Code of Conduct Bureau And Office Of Sec. To The Gov’t From Reinstating Folashade Kolawole As Secretary Of Bureau

The National Industrial Court of Nigeria in Abuja has restrained the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the office of the Secretary of the Government of The Federation (SGF) from reinstating to her old position Mrs. Folashade Abiodun Kolawole, a former secretary of the CCB board and retired staff of the bureau.

Justice Waziri Abali gave the Order in favor of an ex-parte application filed by Royal Integrity and Accountability Organisation, a Non-governmental Organisation on human rights and anti-corruption.

Joined in the motion as respondent are: SGF, CCB and Mrs. Kolawole herself.

In the court order obtained by Saharareporters, the court gave “an order of interim injunction restraining the respondents either by themselves or through their agents, servants, or officials from reinstating the 3rd defendant to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) as a staff/acting secretary by any subterfuge or giving effect to the letter dated August 21st 2017, purporting to reinstate the 3rd defendant pending the hearing of the motion on notice.”

On August 23, 2017, it was reported on by SaharaReporters that Mrs. Kolawole allegedly stormed the federal secretariat of the CCB in Abuja with some armed policemen to force herself back into office. She however, denied that did not disrupt work activities in the secretariat, adding that she went with policemen only to protect herself.

The action led to further protest by the staff union of CCB insisting that Mrs. Kolawole cannot be reinstated having voluntarily resigned from service and having received her retirement entitlements.

Mrs. Kolawole purported resigned her appointment after she was suspended from her position as acting secretary of the bureau board due to a misdemeanor and non-implementation of the Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) of the CCB.

Shortly after she resigned, the court also sacked the CCB board led by Sam Saba having spent more that the allotted five years in office.

However, to the surprise of the members of the staff union, Mr. Ochingbo Edwin, the secretary of the Joint Negotiation Council (JNC), said Mrs. Kolawole wrote a petition to the SGF claiming she was pressured to resign.

The office of SGF then issued her letter, demanding that she should be reinstated. The directive was met with stiff opposition from the staff union over two days.